Please read before you spray poisons! INFO

Please read before you spray poisons! INFO

Tue Apr 29, 2014 7:11 am

It is beginning to be pest in the garden season again already and we've started to get a bunch of comments/ suggestions about use of various broad spectrum poisons. I thought it might help if we had one place where info on a lot of the common poisons was collected in one spot. So if you are thinking about spraying something in your garden you can come here and check for information on its toxicity and environmental impacts. So I have looked back at previous posts here and done a bunch of internet searching. In order not to have a gigantic post that you would have to scroll down through, I have made each one as a separate post in this thread. In looking up information, I looked for reliable information, mostly from universities or govt agencies, that presented evidence and references to check the evidence. I tried to avoid deniers (mostly the propaganda that Monsanto and other companies put out) and alarmists and stick to facts. Mostly I kept them as concise as I could. The glyphosate/ RoundUp one is a bit longer, since RoundUp is the most often recommended here and most often claimed to be completely safe and short-lived, so I tried to deal with some of the claims more thoroughly. I listed references for each post, so that if you care to you can find the data yourself.

It is worth noting that EVERY ONE of these (with the possible exception of RoundUp â€“ jury still out on that one) is toxic to honeybees. If you keep in mind, malathion usage in US is around 20 million pounds annually, carbaryl 10 -15 million pounds, trifluralin 14 million pounds, neonicotinoids 4 million pounds, permethrin 2 million pounds, and there are many others (and all of these data are at least a few years old, it takes a while for statistics to be compiled and published, so are under-estimates), it is amazing any honeybees have survived.

I can imagine someone reading down through the list and saying â€œall the choices from the big box store are here and they are all bad, what am I supposed to do?â€ That is sort of the point - less is more. You don't need to use any of this stuff. If you keep a healthy, diverse garden with lots of different plants, lots of herbs and aromatics scattered around to help keep bugs away from your crops, lots of nectar bearing flowers to help attract beneficial insects to your garden, bird feeders for the birds, and so on, the system will balance itself out. You will still have leaf eater insects, but you won't have any major infestations of them. In every case, every problem that these poisons are supposed to treat, there is some non-poisonous low-tech solution, especially for small-scale home gardeners.

Last edited by rainbowgardener on Tue Apr 29, 2014 7:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

SEVIN (carbaryl)

Class and uses: Carbaryl is a wide-spectrum carbamate insecticide which controls over 100 species of insects on citrus, fruit, cotton, trees, and other crops, as well as on poultry, livestock and pets. It is also used as a molluscicide and an acaricide (against ticks and mites). The chemical name for carbaryl is 1- naphthol N-methylcarbamate. It is a neurotoxin.

Human toxicity: Carbaryl can produce adverse effects in humans by skin contact, inhalation or ingestion. Athough, it may cause minor skin and eye irritation, carbaryl does not appear to be a significant chronic health risk to humans at or below occupational levels. In humans, acute effects of carbaryl exposure include headaches, nausea, incoordination, and difficulty breathing. Carbaryl can cause a variety of behavioral effects, some of which are relatively long-term. It also suppresses several functions of the immune system. Exposure to carbaryl has been associated with a higher incidence of the cancer non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in farmers and brain cancer in children

Animal toxicity: Carbaryl is acutely toxic to fish. Carbaryl is acutely toxic to birds, although the dose required to kill most species is greater than that required to kill mammals, fish or insects. Carbaryl also adversely affects birds at lower doses by reducing the population of insects and aquatic invertebrates that the birds feed on. Unhatched and young birds appear to be particularly sensitive to carbaryl exposure. Earthworms are sensitive to small amounts of carbaryl in soil. In field studies, carbaryl treatment reduced earthworm populations by between 50 and 90 percent. Follow-up studies showed that populations took five to twelve months to recover and that the rate at which mineral soil was incorporated into thatch was significantly impaired during this period. It is toxic to frogs, shrimp, crabs, clams, snails, some aquatic insects, and many pond living creatures. Carbaryl is highly toxic to honey bees, certain beneficial insects such as lady beetles, and parasitic wasps and bees.

Plants: While insecticides are not usually assumed to have adverse effects on plants, carbaryl's use as a plant growth regulator (chemical thinning agent) makes effects on other plants unsurprising. It has been shown to decrease germination success, inhibit seedling growth, reduce photosynthesis, and reduce nitrogen fixation. Note that several different people have written in to helpfulgardener to say that their gardens died after being sprayed with Sevin.

Fate in the environment: Because of its chemical characteristics, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified carbaryl as one of the pesticides with most potential to leach into groundwater. It has been found in groundwater in California, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Carbaryl was the most commonly detected carbamate insecticide in the 1991 U.S. Food and Drug Administration pesticide residue monitoring program; it was the tenth most commonly detected pesticide. It was also one of eight pesticides detected in baby food samples

Class and uses: Malathion is a nonsystemic, wide-spectrum organophosphate insecticide. Organophosphates include methyl parathion, the nerve gas sarin, trithion, guthion, spectracide, and many others. They were first developed as chemical warfare agents. It is commonly used to control mosquitoes and a variety of insects that attack fruits, vegetables, landscaping plants, and shrubs. It can also be found in other pesticide products used control ticks, fleas and ants. It has been used in wide scale spraying.

Human toxicity: Malathion itself is of low toxicity; however, absorption or ingestion into the human body readily results in its metabolism to malaoxon, which is substantially more toxic. In studies of the effects of long-term exposure to oral ingestion of malaoxon in rats, malaoxon has been shown to be 61 times more toxic than malathion. If malathion is used in an indoor, or other poorly ventilated environment, it can seriously poison the occupants living or working in this environment. in jurisdictions which spray malathion for pest control, it is often recommended to keep windows closed and air conditioners turned off while spraying is taking place, in an attempt to minimize entry of malathion into the closed environment of residential homes. Like any chemicals, it can be more dangerous to children and pregnant women. Animal studies have shown that malathion and/or its breakdown products can be transferred from a pregnant mother to the developing fetus and that it can also be passed to newborn animals in the maternal milk.

Animal toxicity: It is a broad spectrum poison that spreads through air and water and is quite toxic to fish, amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, butterflies. It is highly toxic to honeybees and many other beneficial insects. It moderately toxic to birds. Malathion has been determined to be the cause of the deaths of thousands of Staten Island fish by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

Fate in the environment: Malathion and malaoxon can be transported in air by drift from applications to non-target sites. Movement in air can also occur due to volatilization, fog, and wind. Residues in small droplets produced by ultra low volume (ULV) aerial applications have been shown to drift for long distances, causing adverse effects in surrounding waterways. Other studies have also indicated transport of malathion over large distances. Storm water runoff from urban areas was found to have higher levels of malathion than agricultural settings. It does end up as a contaminant in food: In the USA, the average daily intake from food has been estimated to be 5.1 micro grams for an adult from a market basket survey.

Class and Uses: Trifluralin is a selective, pre-emergent dinitroaniline herbicide that must be applied before target weeds sprout. It prevents seeds from sprouting. It is one of the most widely used herbicides used for the control of annual grasses and broadleaf weeds in nut, grain, vegetable and fruit crops.

Human Toxicity: EPA considers trifluralin to be a possible human carcinogen. Trifluralin is an endocrine-disrupting chemical, according to both the UK Environment Agency and the World Wide Fund for Nature. These chemicals have adverse, "gender-bender" effects by interfering with the body's hormones, or chemical messengers, and are active at even miniscule level. Contact with it can be irritating to the skin and eyes and can cause a rash. High or repeated exposure can affect the liver and kidneys.

Animal Toxicity: : Trifluralin has been banned in the European Union since March 2008, primarily due to its high toxicity to fish and other aquatic life. It is very highly toxic to cold and warm water fish, amphibians, and other aquatic organisms. It is moderately toxic to honeybees and earthworms

Fate in the Environment: Trifluralin is not readily biodegradable and persists in the soil. Germination of crops can be impacted for up to a year after use, especially in arid conditions. It is nearly insoluble in water, but persists in aquatic environments due to its strong bonding with sediments and particulates in the water column. Trifluralin has been detected in nearly 1% of the wells tested. It is highly bioaccumulative, that is persisting in animal tissues and concentrating up the food chain. Trifluralin residues in the atmosphere of remote, non-use regions have been reported, suggesting its potential for long-range transport. Scientists found traces of trifluralin in the Canadian Arctic. Since it bonds so strongly with particulates, it is carried long distances in dust and air and is transported via sediment particles in ocean currents.

Class and uses: Imidaclopid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and others are neonicotinoid insecticides, synthetic derivatives of nicotine. They are insect neurotoxins which act on the central nervous system of insects by interfering with the transmission of stimuli in the insect nervous system, resulting in the insect's paralysis, and eventually death. Imidacloprid is currently the most widely used insecticide in the world, sold under many names for many uses, including pest control in agriculture, to prevent termite damage, pest control for gardens and turf, treatment of domestic pets to control fleas, protection of trees from boring insects.

Human toxicity: The main concern about these products is not human toxicity, although they are not totally benign. Farm workers reported skin or eye irritation, dizziness, breathlessness, confusion, or vomiting after they were exposed to pesticides containing imidacloprid. Pet owners have sometimes had skin irritation after they applied flea control products containing imidacloprid to their pets.

Animal toxicity: Imidacloprid is quite toxic to upland game and birds especially Japanese quail, house sparrow, canary and pigeons. It causes abnormal behavior, such as lack of coordination, lack of responsiveness and an inability to fly, as well as eggshell thinning and reduced egg production. It is extremely toxic to some species of freshwater crustaceans. Earthworms exposed to imidacloprid experienced reproductive and mutagenic effects, even at low concentrations

The main concern about neonicotinoids is their connection to colony collapse disorder (CCD) and the disappearance of honeybees. Many examples have been documented when CCD has clearly resulted from spraying crops with it. In agricultural usage, seeds are coated with imidaclopid in a huge planting machine that uses air pressure to blow out seeds and the insecticide powder. This has been measured at 700,000 times more than what it takes to kill a honeybee. That toxic dust lands on nearby flowers, such as dandelions. If bees feed on pollen from those flowers, that dust easily can kill them." Over 90% of US corn seeds as well as increasing portions of seeds of other major crops like soy, are coated like that. Spiny soldier bugs, whiteflies, ladybirds, lacewings and mired bugs parasitic wasps, and predaceous ground beetles- all beneficial predators- have also been adversely affected when exposed to imidacloprid. This can lead to a resurgence in pests they would normally prey on, which results in an increase in crop damage.

Plants: Despite being an insecticide, imidacloprid can be toxic to plants should drift and runoff occur.Cases documenting damage to greenhouse crops exposed to it have been reported. Imidacloprid can also reduce blue-green algal communities and diatoms at moderate concentrations.

Fate in the environment: Neonicotinoids spread in the environment and have been detected in ground water, soils, soil biota, field margin plants, etc

Class and Uses: 2,4-D is a chlorinated phenoxy compound, which functions as a systemic herbicide and is used to control many types of broadleaf weeds. It is used in cultivated agriculture, in pasture and rangeland applications, forest management, home, garden, and to control aquatic vegetation. It is the most widely used herbicide in the non-agricultural sector with about 46 million pounds used annually in the US. It was developed during WWII as a chemical warfare agent and only accidentally discovered that it had weed killing properties

Human Toxicity: 2,4 D is moderately toxic to humans. It has produced serious eye and skin irritation among agricultural workers. Several recent studies show that this pesticide can cause lymphatic cancer in exposed humans. Farmers who were exposed to 2,4-D for 20 or more days per year had a sixfold higher risk of developing non-Hodgkinâ€™s lymphoma than non-farmers, while farmers who mixed or spread the herbicide had an eightfold higher risk of developing the tumor. It can injure liver, kidney, muscle and brain tissues. Studies show that 2,4-D exhibits hormone-disrupting activity, including estrogenic, androgenic, and anti-thyroid effects. It has been banned in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Kuwait, and parts of Canada.

Animal Toxicity: Consumption of plants treated with 2,4-D has killed horses and cattle. It can be toxic to fish and aquatic organisms if it leaches in to rivers. 2,4-D is slightly toxic to wildfowl (mallards, pheasants, quail and pigeons) and moderately toxic to other birds. In birds it has been shown to cause birth defects and reduce hatching success. It also indirectly affects birds by destroying habitat and food sources. Moderate doses of 2,4-D severely impaired honeybees brood production, reducing offspring numbers. It kills predatory (beneficial) beetles and ladybug larvae, resulting in an increase in aphid infestations. 2,4 dichlorophenol, a breakdown product of 2,4-D is extremely toxic to earthworms, 15 times more toxic than 2,4-D itself.

Fate in the Environment: 2,4-D is not very persistent in the soil, with a half-life in the soil of 16 days or less. 2,4-D has been included on the EPA list of compounds that are likely to leach from soil. Despite its short half-life in soil and in aquatic environments, the compound has been detected in groundwater supplies in at least five States and in Canada. It has also been detected in surface waters throughout the United States at very low concentrations.

Class and Uses: Permethin is a synthetic pyrethroid. Pyrethrins are derived from crysanthemums, but the synthetic ones are much more concentrated and toxic. It is a broad spectrum insecticide that has been sprayed widely in mosquito abatement programs and used for lice, ticks, and scabies and on a variety of crops. It is a neurotoxin, which acts on the nervous system of insects and causes muscles to spasm, culminating in paralysis and death

Animal toxicity: Permethrin is highly toxic to both freshwater and estuarine aquatic organisms. Most agricultural, public health, and down-the-drain scenarios modeled resulted in exceedances in the acute risk quotient (RQ) for freshwater and estuarine fish, invertebrates, and sediment organisms. It is also extremely toxic to honeybees, as well as other beneficial insects. . Severe losses may be expected if bees are present at treatment time, or within a day thereafter . Permethrin is also toxic to wildlife . It should not be applied, or allowed to drift, to crops or weeds in which active foraging takes place.

It is less toxic to mammals than insects and aquatic organisms, but cats are especially sensitive to it and it is dangerously toxic to them.

Human toxicity: Permethrin is of low toxicity to humans. Dermal (skin) exposure to permethrin may cause irritation, itching, or paresthesia (a tingly, prickly sensation) at the site of contact. These symptoms rarely last more than 24 hours. Contact with the eyes may result in pain, redness, or a burning sensation. Ingestion of permethrin may cause sore throat, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. This is common sense stuff - don't eat it, drink it, rub it on your eyes or skin.

Fate in the Environment: Because permethrin binds very strongly to soil particles and it is nearly insoluble in water, it is not expected to leach or to contaminate groundwater The binding, or adsorption, of permethrin in soil may be limited to organic matter. It is not very mobile in a wide range of soil type Permethrin is readily broken down, in most soils except organic types. Synthetic pyrethroids can present a significant threat if they are used near estuarine areas. They tend to bioconcentrate in these environments.

Class and Uses: Glyphosate is an aminophosphonic analogue of the natural amino acid glycine. It is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses. In 2007 glyphosate was the most used herbicide in the United States agricultural sector and the second most used in home and garden market. Some crops have been genetically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate (i.e., "Roundup Ready). Such crops allow farmers to use glyphosate as a post-emergence herbicide against both broadleaf and cereal weeds, which has greatly increased its use.

Plants: Glyphosate can be acutely toxic to non-target plants, including aquatic plants and algae. The effects of this toxicity on natural plant succession alters the ecology of treated areas. In most cases, the plant species diversity will decrease, and along with it, the numbers of insects, mammals and birds utilizing these areas as habitat. Another major concern about RoundUp/ glyphosate is that with the huge usage of it, more and more weeds are becoming resistant to it. RoundUp was marketed with the premise that use of RoundUp ready crops would allow the use of less herbicides. In fact the volume of glyphosate used increased 10-fold from 15 million pounds in 1996 to 159 million pounds in 2012 AND total volume of herbicides used has risen by 26 percent from 2001 to 2010.

Glyphosate does reduce the growth of beneficial soil-dwelling mycorrhizal fungi, which function to increase nutrient uptake by plants through a symbiotic association with the roots. Mycorrhizae have been implicated in the improved resistance to stress, and are necessary for the proper growth and development of most vascular plants. Glyphosate destroys nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil. Glyphosate, by inhibiting the growth of some microbes, allows the overgrowth of others. This includes microbial plant pathogens. Fusarium is a naturally occurring soil fungus that is a plant pathogen. Fusarium invades the roots of plants and either kills the plant outright or prevents normal growth. Thus plants in areas treated with glyphosate will be more vulnerable to fusarium and other pathogens. By all these means glyphosate is harmful to plants and in the environment.

Animal Toxicity: In general, glyphosate is of low toxicity to birds and mammals. This is because its mode of action is through blocking a specific enzyme pathway used in biosynthesis, called the shikimic acid pathway. The shikimic acid pathway is present in plants, fungi, and bacteria but is not found in higher animals. The absence of this pathway in mammals may explain the low toxicity of glyphosate to non-target organisms. However, commercial formulations of glyphosate contain additives such as surfactants which vary in nature and concentration. These other ingredients, labelled as â€œinert,â€ may be more toxic than the glyphosate. Glyphosate alone is practically non-toxic to fish. However, Roundup is apparently more toxic to fish than many common surfactants. Roundup is listed as â€œrelatively non-toxicâ€ to honeybees. However, there is some anecdotal evidence of a connection between aerial spraying of Roundup and death of bee colonies.

Human Toxicity: RoundUp was marketed as the ideal herbicide, toxic to weeds and harmless to everything else. For years glyphosate was assumed to be non- toxic to humans. The EPA considers glyphosate to be non-carcinogenic and relatively low in dermal and oral acute toxicity. However, as noted, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in RoundUp. Also most toxicity tests cited by industry and the EPA investigate toxicity through oral exposure routes. The toxicity of glyphosate and its common surfactant POEA is much greater through inhalation routes of exposure. Roundup is the third most commonly reported cause of pesticide related illness among agricultural workers. Humans ingesting as little as 100 ml of Roundup have died (suicide attempts using Roundup have a 10-20% success rate).

Now researchers have found that one of Roundupâ€™s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages. Roundup is a potent endocrine disruptor (disturbs hormone function) even at very low concentrations.

Another mode of harm to animals and humans from glyphosate is through its action against microbes, including beneficial microbes in the gut. A recent study in the Journal of Current Microbiology reported that such highly pathogenic bacteria as Salmonella Entritidis, Salmonella Gallinarum, Salmonella Typhimurium, Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum were highly resistant to glyphosate. However, most of beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus badius, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Lactobacillusspp. were found to be moderate to highly susceptible. A reduction of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract microbiota by ingestion of glyphosate could disturb the normal gut bacterial community, especially since the pathogenic microbes were left unharmed.

Fate in the Environment: Glyphosate adsorbs strongly to soil and is not expected to move vertically below the six inch soil layer. However, glyphosate does have the potential to contaminate surface waters due to its aquatic use patterns and through erosion, as it adsorbs to soil particles suspended in runoff. If glyphosate reached surface water, it would not be broken down readily by water or sunlight. Glyphosate's toxicity is compounded by its persistence in the environment. Even though it has been marketed as being very biodegradable, many studies show that glyphosate remains, chemically unchanged in the environment, for periods of up to a year. Recent research suggests that even when glyphosate binds to soil particles, it will cyclically "desorb" or lose its attraction to soil and become active as an herbicide.

Glyphosate was detected in between 60 and 100% of air and rain samples taken in the American Midwest during the crop growing season. Glyphosate and its main breakdown product, AMPA, were frequently detected in streams in the American Midwest during the growing season. Urinary body burdens of glyphosate in farm and non-farm families in Iowa were over 900 parts per billion (0.9 mg per kg of body weight) in 75% of farmers, 67% of wives, and 81% of farmersâ€™ children. Urinary burdens in non-farm children were slightly higher than those in farm children, perhaps due to the widespread use of glyphosate in non-farm areas, such as in peopleâ€™s gardens.

Re: Please read before you spray poisons! INFO

Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:31 pm

Thank you for all the wonderful information on these poisons. I purchased a systemic treatment called Infuse (made by Bonide). The active ingredient is 1.55 % Propiconazole. Have not been able to find much out about this product. Do you know anything about it?

PROPICONAZOLE

Mon Jul 07, 2014 12:05 pm

[In case this is more information than you wanted to read, I highlighted in red below, my bottom line conclusions from looking this up.]

Propiconazole is a triazole fungicide, also known as a DMI, or demethylation inhibiting fungicide due to its binding with and inhibiting demethylating a precursor to ergosterol. Without this demethylation step, the ergosterols are not incorporated into the growing fungal cell membranes, and cellular growth is stopped. This lack of normal sterol production slows or stops the growth of the fungus, effectively preventing further infection and/or invasion of host tissues. Therefore, propiconazole is considered to be fungistatic or growth inhibiting rather than fungicidal or killing Propiconazole is a systemic which is taken up by plants and targets fungi, bacteria, and viruses affecting plants.

The soil movement and leaching potential of propiconazole is limited; leaching into underground water supplies is unlikely. Propiconazole displays moderate soil longevity The half- life under these conditions ranged from a low of 96 days in a sandy loam to 575 days in a silt loam in Texas. A half life of say 100 days would mean that in 200 days, three quarters of the substance would be eliminated.

Propiconazole can contaminate water and may be highly toxic to fish. Exercise extreme caution if using near water sources. Propiconazole degrades into triazole compounds, which may still be toxic. Decomposition of propiconazole by heating may release toxic gasses .

Propiconazole has a moderately low acute toxicity. When exposed to the eyes, popiconazole caused corneal opacity which reversed within 72 hours Chronic toxicity tests on rats and mice found benign and malignant liver tumors to occur in males at doses as low as 3.6 mg/kg daily. The EPA has categorized propiconazole as a possible human carcinogen In a reproductive toxicity test with rats, doses as low as 30 mg/kg caused skeletal deformations in newborn pups. Reduced litter size and pup weight were observed at the 8mg/kg dose level. Propiconazole is a developmental toxin on the Toxics Release Inventory

It is listed as a Pesticide Action Network bad actor chemical, but I couldn't find out why, probably because of the possible carcinogenicity. It is listed as moderately toxic to fish, insects, molluscs and moderately to highly toxic to zooplankton (the basis of aquatic food chains). It is listed as slightly toxic to honeybees.

So reading these results, the carcinogenicity relates only to chronic exposure. So you don't want to be using it or being exposed to it on a regular basis. Be very careful with it and with storing it. Don't store it in places where it can get very hot. Don't get it near your eyes (wear protective goggles). Don't use it around pregnant women. It is bad news if it gets in to ponds or aquatic environments, but it doesn't leach through the soil very much, so the main concern would be using it next to or very near ponds and rivers. It is somewhat persistent in the soil and being anti-microbial would be harmful to soil microbial life, so you would want to try not to get it on your soil very much.

But all in all, not the worst chemical I have looked up. Since it is listed as working against the anthracnose which is currently wiping out our dogwood tree population and other trees, fruits, vegetables, it is one I might consider using with care, if it were a question of saving trees.

In all of these questions, it is a matter of weighing choices and risk/benefits. If it is a question of saving trees and there is nothing else that works, you might decide it was worth the possible risks. If it is a question of saving your backyard annual vegetables or lawn, you might want to at least explore whether there are organic funcigidal options. Hope this helps some.

imidacloprid and neonicotinoids revisited

More and more evidence keeps coming out on what an environmental disaster neonicotinoid insecticides are. I thought I would append a bit of it here:

Neonicotinoids linked to recent fall in farmland bird numbers

New research has identified the worldâ€™s most widely used insecticides as the key factor in the recent reduction in numbers of farmland birds.

The finding represents a significant escalation of the known dangers of the insecticides and follows an assessment in June that warned that pervasive pollution by these nerve agents was now threatening all food production. The neonicotinoid insecticides are believed to seriously harm bees and other pollinating insects [which leads to the thread to food production].

Peer-reviewed research, published in the leading journal Nature this Wednesday, has revealed data from the Netherlands showing that bird populations fell most sharply in those areas where neonicotinoid pollution was highest. Starlings*, tree sparrows and swallows were among the most affected.

At least 95% of neonicotinoids applied to crops ends up in the wider environment, killing the insects the birds rely on for food, particularly when raising chicks.

â€œIt is very surprising and very disturbing,â€ de Kroon said. Water pollution levels of just 20 nanograms of neonicotinoid per litre led to a 30% fall in bird numbers over 10 years, but some water had contamination levels 50 times higher. â€œThat is why it is so disturbing â€“ there is an incredible amount of imidacloprid in the water,â€ he said. â€œAnd it is not likely these effects will be restricted to birds.â€

David Goulson, a professor at the University of Sussex, who was not involved in the new studies, said the research was convincing and ruled out likely alternative causes of bird decline. â€œThe simplest, most obvious, explanation is that highly toxic substances that kill insects lead to declines in things that eat insects.â€

There was little reason to doubt that wildlife in the UK and other countries were suffering similar harm, he said. â€œThis work flags up the point that this isnâ€™t just about bees, it is about everything. When hundreds or thousands of species or insect are being wiped out, itâ€™s going to have impacts on bats, shrews, hedgehogs, you name it. It is pretty good evidence of wholesale damage to the environment.â€

I know from experience that birds in my garden are part of the predators on a number of insects I don't want. If the birds go away and a lot of the predator insects (ladybugs, preying mantis, lacewings, parasitic wasps, etc) go away (because the imidicloprid doesn't distinguish between "good" and "bad" insects, killing them all), the garden system will be all out of balance and we will have plagues of the very kinds of insects these poisons were supposed to combat. It does seem like we've had a lot more people writing in this year about major infestations of some insect or another, cabbage moth larvae, armyworms, potato beetles. Could this be a result of all the spraying (not by the people writing in, but all of us are surrounded by this stuff)? No one knows and it is really hard to do the research in real life situations, because there are so many variables. Climate change? Other pollutants? But I do think things are getting out of balance.

*I know many of us think we wouldn't miss a few starlings, but all of these are insect eaters. Starlings eat seeds and fruits and whatever else they come across (dry cat food), but the bulk of their diet is soft-bodied insects. Swallows eat thousands of mosquitos. In winter tree sparrows eat more seeds, but in summer their diet is almost exclusively insects: beetles, flies, leafhoppers, wasps, moths, and caterpillars, as well as spiders and snails. Almost all seed eating birds also eat insects during nesting season and for feeding the babies.

Raid House and Garden Bug Killer

Sat Aug 30, 2014 6:16 am

This is one that keeps being mentioned, so I thought I would look it up.

Active ingredients are allethrin and tetramethrin. Tetramethrin is a pyrethroid insecticide in the same category as permethrin above. There is very little data about tetramethrin so far - all these insecticide companies keep coming out with new versions as the word gets out about the old ones. It would be reasonable to assume that the toxicities and environmental effects of tetramethrin would be similar to those of permethrin and other pyrethroids. It is known that Tetramethrin is highly toxic for fish. It has low toxicity to birds but is toxic for honey bees. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/s ... /~9EEuvU:1 Chronic exposure to it is bad, and it causes asthma and lung diseases in farm workers who are repeatedly exposed to it. http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/category-deta ... ytblagents.

Allethrin is the first synthetic pyrethroid that was developed, back in 1949. Allethrin is slightly to moderately toxic by dermal absorption and ingestion Short-term dermal exposure to allethrin may cause itching, burning, tingling, numbness. Exposure to large doses by any route may lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hyperexcitability, incoordination, tremors, convulsive twitching, convulsions, bloody tears, incontinence, muscular paralysis, prostration and coma. Persons sensitive to ragweed pollen are at increased risk from exposure to allethrin Like other pyrethroids, allethrin is not very toxic to birds or mammals, but is very highly toxic to fish and zooplankton and is moderately toxic to honeybees and other beneficial insects. http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/ex ... -ext.html;http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Che ... Id=PC32799

Allethrin is often used in mosquito coil as a repellant, but: according to experts, mosquito repellent coils mats emit fumes that contain a substance called Allethrin and its products that may cause health hazards like cancer and complications in pregnant women. . When inhaled, it may worsen asthma in individuals who suffer from the disease. In others, it may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and coordination difficulties. It is especially dangerous for infants, young children and pregnant women. http://doctor.ndtv.com/storypage/ndtv/i ... toxic.html

Being in the same family, they can be expected to potentiate each other so that the combined effects are multiplicative not additive, but of course there are no studies of interactions of all these combinations of poisons.

Round up in the news

Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:06 pm

Now that modern agriculture is fully committed to RoundUp because of all the RoundUp tolerant GMO's, more and more keeps coming out about the true dangers of it, especially to farming communities with high and chronic exposures:

"Roundup seemed, at first, to be the perfect herbicide. It blocks the ESPS synthase enzyme, which prevents the synthesis of amino acids that plants need for growth. Since animals don't have this enzyme, it was initially hypothesized that they would be safe from Roundup's effects. Unfortunately, Roundup has now been shown to affect much more than the EPSP synthase enzyme. The herbicide has been proven to cause birth defects in vertebrates, including in humans, and it may also be the cause of a fatal kidney disease epidemic.

RoundUp is now being linked to very high cancer rates in agricultural communities:

Dr. Damian VerzeÃ±assi, professor of social and environmental health from the National University at Rosario. In 2010, he began a house-to-house epidemiological study of 65,000 people in Santa Fe, also in Argentina's soy region. He found cancer rates two to four times higher than the national average, with increases in breast, prostate and lung cancers.

Much the same was found in Chaco, Argentina's poorest province. In 2012, two villages were compared, the heavily sprayed farming village of Avia Terai and the non-sprayed ranching village of Charadai. In the farming village, 31 percent of residents had a family member with cancer while only 3 percent of residents in the ranching village had one. ...The change in how agriculture is produced has brought, frankly, a change in the profile of diseases. We've gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects and illnesses seldom seen before"

This probably does not mean that RoundUp is much [how much?] of a threat to those of us who eat RoundUp sprayed crops or use it occasionally in the home garden. [I expect how much has yet to be determined.] But someone has to be growing those crops.

RoundUp / glyphosate revisited

Sat Jan 03, 2015 4:42 pm

Lots more new information about glyphosate coming out, about more subtle environmental effects. When they test to see if some herbicide (or whatever ) is safe, they mostly do so in laboratory conditions. They test the glyphosate in isolation, not in conjuction with all the so-called inert ingredients, and they look for what gets killed.

RoundUp in ordinary dosages does not directly kill honeybees, but new information suggests that it does contribute to their population decline. An article from U. Florida, aimed at farmers who do use pesticides, "Minimizing Honey Bee Exposure to Pesticides" http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1027 talks about "sub-lethal effects on the brood, workers, drones, and queen, who may be killed or rendered infertile. Within an individual bee, certain pesticides and their associated metabolites can attach to, alter, or destroy cells in the gut, brain, or other tissues, thus affecting the beeâ€™s physiology and behavior. Sublethal effects of pesticides include physiological effects that impact enzyme activity and brain activity, leading to impairment of olfaction, learning, and memory; and behavioral effects on motor activity leading to alterations in navigation, orientation, and feeding behavior. Reproductive effects may include reduced sperm viability in drones that causes poor mating for queens, and disruption of ovary activation in the developing queen. Compounded sublethal effects of individual bees may result in colony-level effects, such as poor brood build-up, poor nourishment, frequent queen replacement (supersedure), low overwintering success, and, potentially, colony demise. Sublethal effects of pesticides on bees and other pollinators is a growing research field. See Johnson et al. (2010) for an overview of pesticides and honey bee toxicity." The authors note that until quite recently sublethal effects have not been studied. Evidence is beginning to be found that RoundUp has significant sublethal effects on honeybees.

RoundUp does not necessarily directly kill earthworms, but a new study shows population decline of earthworms in the presence of glyphosate. A study published in the journal Water, Air, & Soil Pollution November 2014, 225:2207 , did a controlled study of earthworms in containers, exposed to no glyphosate, standard weed killing dose, or double dose. Both glyphosate conditions showed declining earthworm populations. They called this a "sub-lethal" effect meaning that the earthworms were not directly killed, but may have stopped eating or stopped reproducing. I don't have more details, because I would have to pay $40 to read the whole article instead of just the abstract. http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 014-2207-3

Re: Please read before you spray poisons! INFO

Sat Jan 03, 2015 5:14 pm

From what I have read most of the problems associated with round up and other glyphosate products was not the glyphosate itself but the other things that were added to it. So the ground clear, ivy, and fast drying glyphosate products could have other effects not directly related to glyphosate but to the other stuff that has been added to it. People should always read the label and follow the precautions before buying and using.

There are a lot of people who don't even know that a lot of the product labels actually peel open and have more information inside and usually it is also in Spanish.

"Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide, meaning it will kill most plants. It prevents the plants from making certain proteins that are needed for plant growth. Glyphosate stops a specific enzyme pathway, the shikimic acid pathway. The shikimic acid pathway is found only in plants and some microorganisms."http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/glyphogen.html

Pure glyphosate has low toxicity for animals since animals do not have this specific enzyme pathway.

Most of the articles I could find on the harmful effects of Roundup on the environment, soil, plants, animals, people were primarily from obviously anti-Monsanto and they cited only singe studies that I have to question who paid for it.